Day Dairy Barn

This dairy barn was built in the early 1920s by Elias John Day and his sons.

The barn, located on 12300 South 600 East, was where Elias John farmed and started building his dairy herd. Like so many others during the depression of the 1930s, Elias John Day nearly lost the farm. One of his sons, Harmon Eastman Day, grew up farming with his father and brothers, married, and moved to Cedar City with his wife, Phoebe McConnell. Harmon moved his family back to Draper and took over the mortgage in 1931, and kept the farm operating during the 1930s with a series of sugar beet crop mortgages. Elias John died suddenly of a heart attack in 1934. During those difficult times, Harmon drove his seven or eight cows along the road so they could eat the grass growing on the roadside. From this small beginning, Harmon built a productive dairy farm with an outstanding herd of registered Holstein cattle.

The farm became a regional standard for modern, efficient agricultural practice. Harmon’s sons, Jack and Henry, assumed responsibility for the dairy farm when their father died in 1965. This barn was used as a milking barn until the mid-1970s when a more modern barn was built. In 2005 Henry and his son Scott sold the property and moved the dairy operation to Payson, Utah. This barn was sold at auction to members of the Draper Historic Preservation Commission (Katie Shell, Todd Shoemaker and Rob Perry) for $900. Donations made refurbishing and moving the barn to this location possible for the use and enjoyment of the Draper Community.

The barn is located in Draper Pioneer Square at 1160 East Pioneer Road in Draper, Utah